1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to firing structures of paintball markers and, more particularly, to a firing structure of a paintball marker wherein the firing structure includes a marker body having a high process yield and a firing cylinder that remains stable in high-speed action regardless of its position.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a paintball marker has a firing cylinder which is propelled by pressurized gas into reciprocating motion so as to fire paintballs. To increase the fun of paintball games, it is desirable to shorten the firing interval, accelerate paintball motion, and reduce the friction on paintballs. Furthermore, the structure of paintball markers must be simple in order to lower associated costs. Therefore, it is an important issue for paintball marker designers to increase the speed of paintball motion and keep the costs of paintball markers competitive.
In light of the foregoing, the applicant of the present application proposed a firing structure of a paintball marker, as shown in FIG. 5, and was granted Taiwan Patent (Utility Model) No. M309665 for the same. As shown in FIG. 5, the firing structure includes a marker body A, a firing cylinder B, and a rear guide rod C. The marker body A has a gas chamber A1 provided with a first gas duct A2 and a second gas duct A3. The first gas duct A2 has a front end extended with a stop edge A21. The firing cylinder B and the rear guide rod C are placed sequentially into the gas chamber A1 of the marker body A. The firing cylinder B has an end defined as a gas inlet end B1 and an opposite end defined as a gas outlet end B2. The firing cylinder B further has an outer periphery formed with a stop portion B3. The stop portion B3 has a front edge mounted with a buffer ring B31 and a rear edge mounted with a gasket ring B32. The stop portion B3 of the firing cylinder B is movable between the first gas duct A2 and the second gas duct A3. The rear guide rod C includes a piston block Cl fitting closely with the gas inlet end B1 of the firing cylinder B. Gas is fed into and discharged from the gas chamber A1 through the first gas duct A2 and the second gas duct A3, respectively, thus pushing the stop portion B3 of the firing cylinder B back and forth and thereby firing a paintball D. The firing structure described above has the following advantages:
1. The rear section of the firing cylinder is separate from the rear guide rod, so the two parts do not interfere with each other during firing.
2. As the pushing of paintballs and the accumulation of gas take place simultaneously, the time required for replenishing pressurized gas is shortened. Thus, the firing interval is minimized to add more fun to paintball games.
3. With a reduced number of airtight rings on the moving parts and hence less friction, the moving parts can move fast.
4. The structure is simple, can be conveniently disassembled, and therefore is less likely to result in failure of operation.
5. As the structure is simple and can be easily processed and assembled, associated costs can be reduced.
However, the aforesaid firing structure has the following drawbacks in use:
1. Since it is difficult to measure the surface roughness of the two-piece firing cylinder, precise processing is required. Consequently, high costs and a low process yield ensue.
2. As the gasket ring B32 is movable with the two-piece firing cylinder, the distance between the movable gasket ring B32 and O-rings embedded in an inner wall of the marker body A forward of the gasket ring B32 (as shown in FIG. 5) is shortened when the firing cylinder advances. Hence, the firing cylinder tends to be unstable during action.
3. While the buffer ring B31 is buffering the impact of the two-piece firing cylinder, the firing cylinder is positioned only through linear contact, and therefore the positioning effect is poor.